The invention claimed and disclosed herein pertains to reminders, in the form of electronic timers and alarms, for notifying a person or persons to perform an action, and in particular to a reminder apparatus for reminding an individual to take or dispense medication.
Situations often exist wherein an individual desires to be reminded of certain actions or tasks which need to be performed throughout the day or the week. The more tasks there are to be performed, the more desirable it is to have an automated reminder system capable of reminding the individual of each task as it becomes due. A common situation where reminders of multiple tasks is desirable is an individual who is taking two or more medications having different dosage frequencies, such that the dosage periods do not always coincide. Another similar situation exists wherein a parent is administering different medications to different children, and desires to be reminded of which medication to give to which child at a particular time. The same situation exits for caretakers, such as staff in a nursing home or a day-care, wherein the staff needs to be reminded to administer medications to different patients at different intervals.
As is evident, an apparatus having the capability to remind an individual of various tasks to be performed at different times can be of great use. In the medication dosage area, such an apparatus can help to ensure that medication is taken at the correct times, or administered to the correct individual at the correct times, having a significant effect on the therapeutic value of the medication. In fact, the need for a simple to-use medication reminder device is particularly keen in the situation where a caretaker is required to administer a large number of different medications to a significant number of patients, as in the nursing home setting. Further, with the general shortage of skilled workers available to fill positions in nursing homes and the like, it is not always possible to recruit workers who have complex technical skills allowing them to program complex reminder devices. Thus, it is desirable to provide these workers with an intuitive apparatus which allows then to easily set reminder timers for dispensing a variety of different medications to patients under their care.
A number of different solutions to the problem are provided by the prior art. However, as will be seen, none of the prior art devices offer a simple, essentially pre-programmed solution to the problem. For example:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,797 to Becker discloses a reminder timer with the capability to display various xe2x80x9cpay attentionxe2x80x9d notices, and the ability to select the frequency of the notices (i.e., the number of times per day the notice is given). However, this latter feature requires using xe2x80x9cup/downxe2x80x9d keys to step through various options. While this does offer a simple user interface in that the number of keys or buttons is reduced over other designs, the use of the interface is not inherently intuitive, and thus not as xe2x80x9csimplexe2x80x9d to use as it may first appear. This is a common trait to many of the prior art devicesxe2x80x94that is, in order to xe2x80x9csimplifyxe2x80x9d the user interface, the prior art devices generally provide for a minimal number of buttons (typically a xe2x80x9cselect functionxe2x80x9d button and two buttons for scrolling up or down through a series of options) and a digital display, such as an LCD display.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,051 to Herrmann describes a multi-medication reminder timer having the ability to select frequencies of dosage for each of a plurality of medications. However, this device is similar to the Becker device in that it employs a user interface which requires entering numerous keystrokes in order for the user/care-giver to program the different alarm sequences.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,640 to Backner discloses a multiple-medication reminder timer which provides an alarm and displays the name of the medication to be taken via a programmable display (such as an LCD display). The device is configured to be programmed by a pharmacist via a separate programming unit, and is therefore essentially incapable of being programmed directly by the user, limiting the practicality of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,999 to Tate describes a multi-medication reminder/dispenser. The device has a plurality of compartments for holding a plurality of different medications. Each compartment is provided with its own dedicated timer. This simplifies the programming of the various timers by the user. However, each timer is set by turning a dial to correspond to the number of hours between dosages. This requires a user to perform a calculation of the hourly interval, and also to remember or look up the medication frequency for each medication dial. Thus, the user may be confused by the interface and enter the wrong number (that is, the user might accidentally enter xe2x80x9c4xe2x80x9d instead of xe2x80x9c6xe2x80x9d when a particular medication is to be taken four times a day).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,429 to Wood discloses a multi-medication reminder timer which is not unlike the devices described by Becker and Herrmann. That is, it provides a highly simplified user interface (three buttons and an LDC-type display), yet requires a large number of keystrokes to program the various timer functions, menus and programming options.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,289 to Sekura is similar to the Wood device in that it provides a multi-medication reminder timer having a user input interface with few buttons, yet the device allows for a complex regimen of dosages to be entered, and thus requires a long and complex set of data to be entered by the user. The programming of this device is not inherently intuitive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,021 to Perrone describes a single medication reminder timer which is programmable by pressing a single button corresponding to the frequency of dosage of the medication. However, the timer is used in conjunction with only a single medication, and is therefore not practical for reminding a user when multiple medications are involved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,491 to Schaeffer provides for a multi-medication reminder timer which uses a relatively complex user interface to enter the reminder program. This device should be compared to the devices described above which have a simple interface, yet still require a significant number of steps to program. In either case the user interface is not intuitive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,711 to Johnston describes various timer/reminder devices which can be programmed to generate reminder alarms. One such device is a multi-medication dispenser which incorporates a timer/reminder circuit. Johnston describes how the medication reminder provides xe2x80x9cease of programmingxe2x80x9d. However, the programming is accomplished using a punch card to select the dosage intervals. Further, the use of a punch card requires that a new card be generated if a mistake is made while programming. Johnson also provides an alternate method of programming one of the timers using slide switches.
What is needed then is an apparatus for reminding a user of a plurality of tasks to be performed, and wherein the apparatus is simple to operate and which incorporates a user interface which is inherently intuitive. Preferably, the alarms for the various tasks or events to be tracked (e.g., dispensing of medication) can be set using a single keystroke. It is further desirable that the apparatus should be highly portable, and should provide alarms which are inherently comprehensible.
The invention provides for an apparatus to remind a person to perform a plurality of periodically repeating tasks. The apparatus is particularly useful to remind a person to take one or more medications, or to administer one or more medications to others. The arrangement of buttons and/or switches used to set the alarms and respond to the alarms is inherently intuitive, making the apparatus particularly easy to use.
In a first embodiment of the invention the reminder apparatus includes a body member, and a first and a second user-accessible interface. Each user interface can be used to set a respective first and second alarm. The user interfaces can include one or more of a push-button, a switch, or a key (such as a capacitance key). Each of the user interfaces has at one least task switch supported by the body member. The task switch (or switches) is/are used to set the alarms. The apparatus includes a first signal device and a second signal device, the signal devices being supported by the body member. The first and second signal devices correspond to the respective first and second user-accessible interfaces, and thus to the respective first and second alarms. A surface is supported by the body member and is configured to be imprinted with a first and a second task identification (such as the names of medications), such that when the task identifications are imprinted on the surface the first and second task identifications are aligned proximate to the corresponding first and second signal devices and the first and second user-accessible interfaces. The apparatus has an electronic processor and an electronic timer in communication with the processor. The processor is in electronic communication with the first and second user-accessible interfaces and the first and second signal devices. Preferably, the processor is configured to set a first alarm interval in response to the at least one task switch of the first user-accessible interface being accessed by a user a single time. The processor is further preferably configured to set a second alarm interval in response to the at least one task switch of the second user-accessible interface being accessed by a user a single time. The processor measures the passage of time using the electronic timing device, and activates the first signal device when the measured passage of time exceeds the first alarm interval. The processor activates the second signal device when the measured passage of time exceeds the second alarm interval.
In a first version of the first embodiment, the user interface includes a single task switch for each separate task. The signal device for each task consists of a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs). Each diode can correspond to a daily interval frequency (e.g., once a day, twice a day, three times a day, and so on). By pressing and holding the task switch, the LEDs are individually illuminated in series. When the LED corresponding to the daily alarm frequency desired is illuminated, the task switch is released, thus programming the apparatus to periodically alarm at the established frequency.
In a second variation of the first embodiment of the present invention, the user interface includes a plurality (or series) of task switches for each task. Each task switch in each series corresponds to a daily interval frequency (e.g., once a day, twice a day, three times a day, and so on). By pressing a task switch corresponding to the daily alarm frequency desired, the apparatus is thus programmed to periodically alarm (for that task) at the established frequency. This provides for an intuitive interface allowing a user to easily set the alarms. The signal device can be a single LED for each task. The signal device can also include an audible signal, which can be varied depending on the task for which an alarm signal is being generated. For example, a single tone, repeating every ten seconds, for the first task, and two tones, repeating every ten seconds, for the second task.
These and other aspects and embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: